By Damion Mitchell, Farmers Weekly Co-ordinator
Dr. Karl Wellington with one of three Jamaica Brahmans that will be on show at the Denbigh Agri-Industrial Show from July 31 to August 2. - Damion Mitchell photo
Ahead of the 52nd staging of the Denbigh Agri-Industrial Show (July 31- August 2) in Clarendon dubbed 'We Are What We Eat, So Let's Eat Jamaican', The Gleaner presents
a series of articles on outstanding
participants at previous shows.
FOR VETERAN cattle farmer, Dr. Karl Wellington, the annual Denbigh Agri-Industrial Show has always been a good opportunity to show off the prized bulls and cows raised on his 500-acre YS Farms in St. Elizabeth, but the 52nd staging of the event this year could be one of his most significant years as an exhibitor.
"It may be my last year there," he told Farmers Weekly.
Dr. Wellington, who began displaying animals at the Denbigh Show in the 1960s has seen some of the most noteworthy moments at the event.
"Dairy and other livestock (exhibitions) have peaked and have gone down into a trough now," he said. "In the 1960s and 70s, it was a joy to take animals to Denbigh and compete with the many other farmers, but in recent times the numbers of animals have gone down and the cost of preparing animals to take them there has become horrendous," he said.
He noted that two years ago he incurred just over $200,000 to groom and transport ten animals to the Denbigh Show for three days, noting that currently, only organisations that were being subsidised by the Government were able to display animals on a consistent basis.
In fact, last year only five farms participated, four being government-financed and one privately-operated. This represented a major shift in trend, given that on average fifteen farms are represented at Denbigh annually.
THREE BREEDS
This year, however, Dr. Wellington will be exhibiting three breeds of beef cattle at the show including three Jamaica Brahmans (one whose bloodline traces back to the original generation imported in Jamaica in 1949), a Jamaica Black and five Red Poles.
A multi-title winner at Denbigh, Dr. Wellington has swept the trophies for all the categories in Jamaica Red Poll display competitions since 1983 when he began exhibiting animals from his YS Farms. But prior to this, when he worked as an agricultural officer with the Ministry of Agriculture, managing its Grove Place Farm in Manchester in the 1970s, the farm produced the 'supreme champion beef bull' at Denbigh for six consecutive years. "It is a challenge for any body else to equal that... It had not been done before and it has not been done since," he said.
But even last year when Dr. Wellington, who is also chairman of the Jamaica Red Poll Breed Society, opted not to display cattle at the Denbigh, Lorin Gayle's bull that emerged 'supreme champion' meant that he was very well represented, as he had sold that bull to Mr. Gayle a few years ago.
According to Dr. Wellington, while it appeared that there is a resurgence of the cattle industry, large farmers will not feel the impact immediately, because the conditions of their farms had severely deteriorated due to the lack of maintenance.
"The herd sizes have gone down, and overhead costs still remain," he said. Consequently, he said while cattle exhibitions would continue at Denbigh, it was not expected that the numbers would increase significantly. "We're not going to see the golden days of the 1950s and 60s again."
But he said it was important that the displays continue so that the younger generation especially would appreciate farmers.
